Thursday, October 31, 2013

Legalize Marijuana?

The movement to legalize
marijuana is picking up steam.In this
country, anyone 21 or over living in Colorado and Washington State can have 1
ounce of weed for personal use.I’m not
sure who measures if the total reaches 2 ounces.Probably no one.

At least 12 other states have
decriminalized marijuana or allowed its use for specified purposes, such as
healthcare.

National leaders have called for
legalization, citing the appalling arrest figures.In 2010 alone, close to 750,000 people were
arrested on marijuana-related charges, mostly for possession.The FBI indicates that a marijuana smoker is
hauled into court every 45 seconds.Arrest for marijuana easily outstrips arrests for such crimes as violent
crimes, including murder, manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated
assault.

Some of that explains why such a
larger percentage of Americans are in jail, more inmates than in any other
country.

That’s happening although no one
has died from using marijuana.Few have
even gotten sick: long-term effects of
smoking on lungs appear to be minimal.Smoke can be eliminated by eating marijuana in the proverbial brownies
or through other means rather than inhaling anyway.

So, what’s the problem?Why are people like me opposed to legalizing
marijuana?

I have only one reason, but, to
me, it easily balances any of the strong arguments in favor of
legalization.Marijuana affects the part
of the brain involved in making critical decisions.It does not make a person violent; it doesn’t
necessarily lead to other drugs.It
simply prevents a user from thinking.Studies found marijuana “disrupts the brain function critical to
motivation, memory, learning, judgment and behavior control.”

That’s why police invariably
check for marijuana use whenever an accident occurs: when a subway car
conductor fails to heed a red light; when a ferry boat operator runs aground;
whenever someone makes a really bad decision affecting the lives of many
people.In a world where few people
think clearly about the effects of their actions, legalizing marijuana and
increasing its use will only make matters worse.

One person who disagreed with me
said there was no spike in car accidents after marijuana use was legalized in
Washington State.I would have been
surprised if there was.After all, the
state has long

been lenient with marijuana users.As a result, people have been smoking with
impunity for a long time there.Obviously, a change in law would not affect the statistics.

I wonder what would happen in
Texas, a state notorious not just for inflicting the last Bush on the country
but for Draconian drug laws.Legalizing
marijuana there would probably be a truer test of its impact.

On the other hand, a small
sampling has little meaning.Any study
of the impact of marijuana on the population would take years.Snapshots in time rarely reveal true
conditions.Consider global warming,
where a single cold winter convinces some deniers that the condition is not
real.If they would bother to look at
longitudinal evidence, they would realize their mistake.

The inability to make critical
decisions affects more than just driving skills.The annual national survey of drug use and
health conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration found that in 2012:

“Youth
with an average grade of D or below were more than four times as likely to have
used marijuana in the past year than youth with an average grade of A.”

“Youth
who initiate marijuana use by age 13 usually do not go to college, while those
who have abstained from marijuana use, on average, complete almost three years
of college.”

It can also be addictive, although less additive than many legal and illegal drugs,
according to Scientific America.People
start smoking at a young age, and studies have shown that teens who start
smoking marijuana prior to age 14 are five times more likely to abuse other
drugs as they get older.

The impact of marijuana is even
greater in youth because the effects are “more detrimental and longer-lasting
in youth,” the National Institute on Drug Addiction found.That’s because marijuana “profoundly affects
the frontal cortex, the last part of the brain to develop and has not fully
matured in adolescence.”

I’m not arguing that marijuana
doesn’t have benefits: it apparently reduces chronic pain and may have a place
in medical treatment, although some studies have found that marijuana usage
actually lowers the immune system.I
just want tight controls to reduce the problems proven to be associated with
marijuana use.

On the other hand, I recognize
that it’s impossible to legislate morality.Society changes.What was
considered immoral (hence illegal) by one generation may become legal and even
encouraged in another.We’ve all seen
how smoking tobacco was once encouraged and is now an anathema.Drinking, too, has gone through a similar
cycle.No one wants to return to Prohibition
days.

Still, I’m not willing to add
another legal drug alongside alcohol and prescription medicine to the
laundry-list of causes for dangerous behavior.

Long-time
religious historian Bill Lazarus regularly writes about religion and religious
history.He also speaks at various
religious organizations throughout Florida.You can reach him at www.williamplazarus.net.He is the author of the famed Unauthorized
Biography of Nostradamus; The Last Testament of Simon Peter; The Gospel Truth: Where Did the Gospel
Writers Get Their Information; Noel:
The Lore and Tradition of Christmas Carols;and Dummies Guide to Comparative
Religion.His books are available on Amazon.com,
Kindle, bookstores and via various publishers.He can also be followed on Twitter.

You
can enroll in his on-line class, Comparative Religion for Dummies, at
http://www.udemy.com/comparative-religion-for-dummies/?promote=1

About Me

During his career, Bill has been a newspaper reporter, magazine writer/editor, advertising copywriter and writer/editor of NASCAR programs, among other jobs. He has won three international awards for stories and programs while working for International Speedway Corp. and was named 2000 Florida Feature Writer of the Year.
He has published four books to date and his writing has appeared in hundreds of local, regional, state and national publications.